THE COLOSIUM OF SAVAGES
by Malik Isasis



A scuffle between some members of the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets basketball franchises broke out into a free-for-all, brawl during a game. The brawl has escalated a National reflection on violence in sports; right-wing radio talk show host and Bush’s political sherpa, Rush Limbaugh, with other sports and political pundits are diving through the window of opportunity to talk about race, by talking around race. In typical word-coding, pundits and political operatives have baptized the word: thug, which has been fed into the media echo chamber for mainstream news consumption. The Thugs, corporate media hypothesized, is overrunning the NBA.

I don't know. The way that the word thug is inflected in the media’s tenor leads me to believe that there is something else deeper going on.

Sports writer, Craig Muder wrote, “The brawl that marred the Knicks-Nuggets game on Saturday night is just a symptom of a bigger problem. There are no real rules now, just thugs who have turned the league into something which few fans can relate. These guys believe they can get away with anything — and the league lets them.”

“Few fans” can relate to violence?

Seriously?

Fox News reported: “It was the NBA's scariest scene since the brawl between Pacers players and Pistons fans two years ago. The league is still recovering from that episode, and Stern made it clear the players must learn to control themselves.”

A 2005 research study done by The Sport Journal, states that over 80 percent of the players in the NBA are African American (Broyles and Keen).

My favorite hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, made international news two years ago when one of its premiere players, Todd Bertuzzi, intentionally drove his opponent’s head into the ice. Fox News reported:

“Bertuzzi issued an emotional apology Wednesday, saying: "These comments are for Steve: I had no intention of hurting you. I feel awful for what transpired." He added: "I'm not a mean-spirited person. The incident marks the second time in a little over four years that police have looked into an on-ice hit at an NHL game in the city.”

In my word search, the only major publication to mention thug was Slate. The word thug was framed with a picture of Bertuzzi with a caption that asks, “Bertuzzi: thug?” Hmm. He slams a guy head into the ice; leaving him unconscious in a pool of blood, with a broken neck...sure was nice of them to have asked, and so politely too.
Hockey, which is almost all white Canadians, Europeans, and Americans, is a violent game and design to be so. There is almost a fight in every game. There hasn’t been a major incident in two years in the NBA, yet the mustering of 10 big black men in fisticuffs is enough for the punditry to discuss violence as if players are getting their necks broken or their teeth knocked out.

Hey, wait a minute. Now that I think about it...wasn’t Saddam Hussein called a thug? Soon-to-be Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez an “everyday” thug. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is often referred to by neocons and conservatives as “Thug-In-Chief.”

This word, “thug” which simply means, “a violent person” appears to only have special residence with brown and black people. This exclusivity underscores the foundation of White Supremacy, which is culturally systemic in American media and politics. White supremacy as define by Sharon Martinas is :

“a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent; for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege.”

Black and brown people are seen as naturally aggressive and violent.

We are savages who need to be tamed, ironically, by violence. This perception of savagery can be seen in how the United States deals with countries such as Venezuela, Iraq, North Korea and Iran.

Sean Bell was shot 50 times by the NYPD. His death occurred because of the thug perception of black men.

He was black.

He was male…therefore, a savage.

Words like thug used exclusively to describe people of color has violent consequences for blacks and browns because the State wills the power to kill. The violence that has been perpetrated by the Bush Administration, the torture, and the rape is not called thuggish; rather it is called National Security. In the world of White Supremacy, government thuggary is not a contradiction.

Sources:

Media Matters, “Limbaugh on the NBA…”.
Muder, Craig, wrote >“No Real Basketball Allowed.” The Observer-Dispatch. December 19, 2006.
Fox News, “NBA supends 7 players…” December 18, 2006.
Bolyes, Phillip and Keen, Bradley, Consumer Discrimination in the NBA Trading-Card Market, The Sport Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 2005.
Fox News, “NHL Suspends Bertuzzi for Breaking Player’s Neck.” March 11, 2004.
Effron, Sonni and Rotella, Sabastian. Saddam Profile. The Los Angeles Times. 2006.
ABC News, “Pelosi Calls Chavez a ‘Thug’”. September 21, 2006.

PIMP THIS |